The BEST Episodes of Pokémon
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Sep 7, 2019
Network: TV Tokyo
A young boy named Ash Ketchum embarks on a journey to become a "Pokemon Master" with his first Pokemon, Pikachu. Joining him on his travels are Brock, a girl-obsessed Rock Pokemon Trainer, and Misty, a tomboyish Water Pokemon Trainer who may have a crush on him. Ash and Co. end up traveling through various regions, including Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto, and then enter the Pokemon League competitions there. Along the way, they run into many confrontations with Jessie, James, and Meowth, a trio of Pokemon thieves who are apart of an evil organization called "Team Rocket". But everytime Team Rocket try to do their evil deeds, they fail thanks to Ash and his Pokemon.
#1 - The Path to The Pokémon League
Season 1 - Episode 8
After receiving his second badge, Ash sets off triumphantly for Vermilion City. Along the way, they hear of a trainer named A.J.-a fierce-Pokémon-trainer who has never lost a match. Full of self-confidence from his own record of ten victories in a row, Ash heads directly for the gym to find his new opponent. When they arrive, a huge bulletin in front of the gym announcing, "This Gym Not Authorized by the Pokémon League" along with a neon sign declaring "98 Consecutive Victories" appeal to Ash's over-confidence. A.J. is on the brink of achieving his goal of 100 straight victories, after which he will embark on a journey to gather badges. Will victory fall on the side of Ash and his 10 straight victories or with A.J. and his string of 98? In the process, will Ash learn some important lessons about the bonds between Pokémon and trainer?
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#2 - Fighting Flyer with Fire
Season 3 - Episode 15
As our heroes stare in amazement at the Violet City gym, Jessie and James, in a rather pathetic disguise, make their appearance pretending to be conducting a survey on behalf of the Pokémon Bureau. Although Ash, Misty and Brock have never heard of it, they let Jessie examine Pikachu to see if he meets the official Violet City gym standards. Jessie and James confiscate Pikachu and run off.
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#3 - Goin' Apricorn
Season 3 - Episode 27
Ash, Misty, Brock and the girl are walking through the woods, the girl explains that getting PokeBalls is a lot more complicated than people think. They approach a large tree but fall into a covered hole. Team Rocket comes and Meowth lassos Pikachu with a rope, then Jessie puts him into an electric-proof jar.
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#4 - Gettin' The Bugs Out
Season 3 - Episode 28
Ash and friends have delivered the GS Ball safely to Kurt and are heading to the Azalea Town Gym for the next badge. Misty thinks Ash will have a tough time with without Charizard but Ash is confident that Cyndaquil has the firepower he needs.The Azalea Gym is a large dome with a forest-like environment inside. Misty becomes nervous, then a Caterpie drops down in front of her and she freaks. A boy standing up on a tree branch says that this is in fact the Gym and that bug Pokemon are the best. Misty isn't thrilled. Ash introduces himself and the boy says he's Bugsy, the Gym leader.
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#5 - Hour of the Houndour
Season 3 - Episode 34
Ash and friends befriend a group of wild Houndour.
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#6 - The Totodile Duel
Season 3 - Episode 35
Ash and Misty's "friendly" rivalry is tested when they both try to capture a Totodile at the same time. Unable to determine whose Pokéball had captured the wild Pokémon, the two must battle it out to determine the Totodile's new master.
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#7 - Hot Matches!
Season 3 - Episode 36
When Ash and friends hear of a virtually undefeatable trainer operating nearby, they seek her out, only to see first Brock's Vulpix and then Ash's Cyndaquil take heavy abuse from her Skarmory-despite its disadvantage against the Fire element.
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#8 - The Psychic Sidekicks
Season 3 - Episode 40
Ash and co. are wandering through a forest, as they slowly make their way to Goldenrod City. They’d prefer to be quickly making their way to Goldenrod City, as, according to rumor, this forest is full of Ghosts. As a precaution, Misty sends out Psyduck to protect them, since it’s the only one who knows any Psychic attacks. The kids are pushing their way through the underbrush, when a dark, grinning face pops out of the bushes, terrifying them all! Misty shoves Psyduck in front of her, but it runs back behind her, and retreats into its Pokéball. Ash approaches the supposed Ghost, who Bites him hard on the hand... but then it raises its other head from the bushes - it’s not a Ghost Pokémon at all, it’s a Girafarig!
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#9 - The Fortune Hunters
Season 3 - Episode 41
A Pokémon Fortune Telling boom turns out to be a Team Rocket plot to steal Pokémon from local trainers. The engineers of this plot, though, are not the Team Rocket regulars, but by the formidable Butch and Cassidy.
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#10 - Hook, Line, and Stinker
Season 4 - Episode 11
Misty is eager to show off her fishing skills in a competition until she realizes that a rude, but skilled Poliwrath trainer, has also entered.
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#11 - Power Play!
Season 4 - Episode 14
After being humiliated by Gary, Ash must accept his help to fight against Team Rocket's new offense.
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#12 - A Ghost of a Chance
Season 4 - Episode 24
Arriving in Ecruteak, Ash immediately heads to the Gym to challenge it's leader for his next Johto League badge. Our heroes soon realize this isn't a normal gym....it bursts into flames as soon as they enter! Trying to douse the flames with their water Pokémon, they find out the blaze is bogus. It's actually the Gastly, Haunter and Gengar instigating the illusion. Find out how these Ghost-Types end up helping our heroes when Togepi and Pikachu get lost among the ruins. Plus, don't miss the "Gastly" lesson they teach Team Rocket!
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#13 - Spring Fever
Season 4 - Episode 31
Continuing with Todd, their search for Articuno, Ash and friends no sooner stop for a snack break than a trio of Swinub appears and makes off with Misty's rice cake. The children jump to pursuit and soon learn that these Pokémon are in the employ of a father-daughter team of water prospecters. The Swinub's keen sense of smell allows them to detect substances buried deep underground. Impressed by thier operations, Team Rocket decided to pirate the idea and its key Pokémon and turn them to their own gain.
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#14 - Right On, Rhydon!
Season 4 - Episode 47
On the way to Olivine City, Ash and friends run into a girl who is trying to build a tunnel threw a mountain, but leaking water is causing her Rock Pokémon to stop digging. In order to finish the tunnel, Ash and friends decide to help her capture a Rhydon that likes water that lives nearby.
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#15 - Got Miltank?
Season 4 - Episode 50
As Ash, Misty, and Brock head to Olivine City, Team Rocket attacks. In the battle, Cyndaquil and Weezing's attacks cause an explosion and Cyndaquil is separated from Ash. When Cyndaquil wakes up it is in an oasis with a Miltank. Ash then sets out to find it.
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#16 - Fight For The Light!
Season 4 - Episode 51
Ash battles for a new badge in Olivine in a battle where Onix defeats Totodile.
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#17 - A Parent Trapped!
Season 5 - Episode 12
With the young Lugia in the possession of Butch and Cassidy, Ash and friends set about rescuing it while protecting its parent from itself. The parent Lugia fights desperately to free its child-playing right into Team Rocket's hands. If Ash fails to win the Lugia's trust and convince it not to oppose Team Rocket alone, it seems this Pokemon is fated to end up in captivity along with its child.
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#18 - The Evolutionary War
Season 8 - Episode 3
Ash and the gang are still on their way to Mossdeep when Max says that, according to the PokeNav, there are three islands approaching called the A, B, & C Islands , one of which has a Pokemon Center. However the journey is interrupted when a bunch of kids ride past on a bunch of Huntail and Gorebyss, which both evolve from Clamperl. While at the Pokemon Center, the group hear a brother and sister arguing about if Huntail or Gorebyss are better than each other, which is a rivalry between the other two islands. While attempting to mediate the quarrel, Ash and the others meet up with their old friend Professor Birch, who explains he is on the island to investigate the mystery of Clamperl's evolution...
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#19 - Saved By The Beldum
Season 8 - Episode 35
Morrison finally shows up to register at the Hoenn League and the preliminaries get underway.
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#20 - Settling a Not-So-Old Score!
Season 10 - Episode 27
As the Floaroma Town contest begins, Pachirisu�s stage fright puts Dawn in a state of panic. However, Dawn pulls out a Poffin which snaps Pachirisu out of it, and she puts on a great appeal. While she worries weather or not she will make it to the next round, Jessie and Kenny pull of great appeals, and soon all three of them make it to the next round. In the first round, Dawn must face Jessie. After struggling for a little bit, Dawn manages to pull off a win. As the contest winds down, the final battle is Dawn vs. Kenny. Will Dawn beat her childhood rival and win her first Contest Ribbon.
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#21 - The School of Hard Knocks
Season 1 - Episode 9
Our three heroes have lost their way in the depths of a dense wood, shrouded in thick, white mist. Momentarily giving up, they decide to break for a brief rest. As Ash wanders deeper into the wood, searching for firewood, he happens across a young boy being bullied by five classmates gathered around him. Eavesdropping on their conversation, Ash learns that the boys are attending the Pokémon Seminar (or 'Pokémon Zem' for short) - a preparatory school for Pokémon trainers. Graduates from the Pokémon Seminar are automatically qualified to participate in the Pokémon League without undergoing any actual test of skill. Although many children dream of entering the illustrious Seminar (or rather their parents dream of them entering), only the most wealthy children can enter the school. But there must be a reason for the gloom overshadowing the faces of the students of this aristocratic school.
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#22 - Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village
Season 1 - Episode 10
Still lost, the party continues to wander. Falling from a rope bridge, stumbling into pitfalls, being caught in various traps, they struggle on until reaching a village, not shown on their map, inhabited by Pokemon that have been injured in battle or abandoned by their masters. In this village, a kind-hearted young woman named Melanie cares for these Pokemon. Even as our heroes, touched by Melanie’s kind example, attempt to assist her in caring for the Pokemon, Team Rocket is slowly making its way toward the village. A combined effort of Melanie and Ash’s Pokemon is needed to battle and defeat Team Rocket, and as a result, Ash’s courage earns him a battle between Pikachu and Melanie’s bravest Pokemon, Bulbasaur. Will Pikachu defeat Bulbasaur, thus increasing Ash’s collection of Pokemon?
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#23 - The Tower of Terror
Season 1 - Episode 23
Ash realizes that he must battle and collect a ghost Pokemon in order to defeat the young girl’s psychic Pokemon. In search of a ghost Pokemon, he heads immediately for a tower in Lavender Town where they are said to live. Jessie, James and Meowth from Team Rocket are already at the tower, but as they lay in wait for our heroes, they are attacked by Gastly, Haunter and Gangar. In the process of trying to defeat the ghost Pokemon, Ash learns a lesson or two about the mystical spirit world. Can Ash capture a ghost Pokemon and if so, will it be enough to defeat the psychic Gym Leader of Saffron City?
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#24 - Pokémon Scent-sation!
Season 1 - Episode 26
The party arrives in Celadon City, a perfectly pleasant town full of large department stores, condominiums, and fancy arcades. Brock and Misty are mesmerized, listening to a pretty young girl in a miniskirt, selling perfume. Appalled by the price of the perfume, Ash is kicked out of the department store, and heads for the Pokemon gym alone, but he is denied entrance to the Celadon Gym. The perfume that Ash criticized in the department store is produced in this gym. Brock and Misty enter the gym and befriend those who inhabit it, but Ash must go to some outrageous lengths in order to even set foot in the gym let alone prove himself worthy of battle against its Master.
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#25 - Riddle Me This
Season 1 - Episode 58
Ash and the group are sailing towards Cinnibar Island, and they happen to meet Gary on the boat. Gary tells them there is no gym on Cinnibar Island anymore, and that they were wasting their time going. When they arrive, they meet a strange looking guy who gives information in riddles. He shows them the gym. It is a broken down piece of debris, and hasn't been used in a long time. The gym leader Blaine was sick of battling tourists who came on vacation, rather than for a Pokémon match. The group try to find a place to stay the night. Unfortunately, all the places are packed with tourists. Ash is beginning to get very hungry, just as he smells something good cooking. They find Gary staying in one of the hotels and they even have an Electabuzz for entertainment playing some music. Gary decides to offer Ash some leftovers from their banquet if he will spin around three times and say "Pikachu". Ash refuses, but Pikachu does it hoping to help out Ash. Ash stops Pikachu, just as the star of their show arrives. It is Jigglypuff going to sing them a song. The group run away to safety, just as Jigglypuff begins to sing accompanied by the Electabuzz's music. The whole crowd falls asleep and get some lovely Jigglypuff squiggles on their faces. Ash and the group find the riddle man's hotel, and he offers a free stay as a reward for solving a riddle. Meanwhile, Team Rocket attempt to steal the Pokémon inside the lab on the island. Ash stops them as usual, with help from his Pokémon. They get to a hot spring, when Togepi jumps on a lever that opens a secret passage. They follow it down to see a hidden Pokémon gym. The riddle man is there to greet them, as he reveals his true identity. He is Blaine, and is ready to battle Ash. The battle is tough with Squirtle first losing, and Charizard refusing to battle. Pikachu makes a comeback, by defeating Rhydon through a direct shock to its horn. Blaine then calls Magmar, who Pikachu is unable to beat. Magmar uses a Fire Blast attack, which is about to hit Pikachu.
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